


The Weight of Empathy

by Arcadias_Fire



Series: Obsidian, Steel, and Gold [8]
Category: DC Animated Universe, Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons)
Genre: Angst, Grief/Mourning, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 03:45:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12718980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcadias_Fire/pseuds/Arcadias_Fire
Summary: After Superman falls in battle, Diana tries to help Batman with his grief. However Batman refuses to believe that Superman is dead, and Diana learns more about their relationship.





	The Weight of Empathy

**Author's Note:**

> Set into the Justice League episode "Hereafter"

There was something wrong with this fight, something that niggled at the back of his mind. It seemed like the villains were just a bit too incompetent, that they didn’t have their act together. It just didn’t seem right. When Superman showed up, it began to make sense; but by the time Batman put everything together, it was far too late. 

There were a few, like the Joker, who were just a _little_ obsessed and focused on their chosen arch foe to the exclusion of others. But this… they all wanted to kill Superman. They were targeting innocents, his friends, but only make him vulnerable, because taking the Man of Steel head on was a losing proposition for almost everyone in the known universe. But it turned out that targeting his teammates, that was effective. 

The blast from Toyman’s giant robot sheered past Batman, as Superman swooped him up into the air. It took out cars and buildings, whose inhabitants had been rescued at the last moment by other League members. Diana was still recovering from her previous fight, unconscious when Toyman focused on her. Batman raced to her side when he sensed the danger zooming in on her position. He tried to help the disoriented Amazon to her feet when he heard the beam activate. Clark’s cry ripped through the sky and time slowed down as Batman tried to pull Diana out of the crater. The pair looked up in horror as the blast homed on them - green like Kryptonite - streaming towards them with no time to get away. If Diana had been at full strength, she could have gotten them away. Batman was too slow if he was carrying her, and there was no way he could leave the princess behind. Doom shrieked down towards them and engulfed Superman as he superimposed himself between his friends and the destruction that awaited them. 

Bruce stood up, his heart breaking, dropping out of his body into nothingness. Everything stopped. He lost his awareness of the surroundings. All he could see was a Kryptonian skeleton, black against green. He didn’t even notice that Diana had left his side until she smashed through Toyman’s robot and had grabbed him by the collar. He was too far away to hear her words, but he could see the anger in her posture, the threatening fist aimed at the small villain’s head, Flash’s comforting – and restraining – hand on her arm. She tossed Toyman away, her whole body showing defeat. 

Silence buzzed in his ears, a void around him. A few people tried to talk to him, but he didn’t respond. He just walked to the point where Clark had vanished. Someone – he thought it might be Flash – kept pestering him, but Diana interceded. He was aware of this only on the very edge of his consciousness. There was a tiny scrap of dirty red cloth on the ground and that took up the whole of his attention. He crouched down in the debris and picked up the scrap of cape, rubbing the soft texture between his gloved fingers. Dirt fell away from the alien fabric so that shone ruby red in his hand. Like blood. He clutched the piece of cape in his fist. “No, this is wrong.” 

***** 

“He’s been like this for days, Miss Diana.” Alfred leaned in to speak quietly. 

“I’m not surprised. He’s taking Superman’s death very hard.” 

She heard Alfred swallow audibly. “Yes miss.” 

“You know why, don’t you?” 

“He… he has had too many loved ones taken from him.” 

“Yes?”

“It’s not my place to say any more, miss.” 

“Ahh.” 

Alfred looked sharply at the beautiful Amazon. Her expression was full of compassion as she gazed down at Batman as he rubbed the small piece of red cloth in his gloved right hand. 

“I’ll take care of everything, Alfred. I’ll make sure Bruce isn’t disturbed by the rest of the League. You take care of him.” She nodded towards the depths of the cave. “If he wants to see me, call, but I doubt he will.” 

“Thank you miss.” 

Diana smiled at the older man, dropping a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I’ll show myself out. He needs you.” 

Alfred nodded and walked down the stairs to aid his heart-broken master. 

****

Diana felt the ache of Clark’s death and Bruce’s loss like a weight on her shoulders. She and Clark had become very close, and she missed him terribly. Batman had disappeared altogether from the League – from everything – he was so engrossed with investigating Superman’s death. Alfred told her that Bruce didn’t think that Superman was actually dead. Diana wasn’t sure if that was just a lie Bruce was telling himself, or if it was a near impossible truth that Batman’s genius was seeing through the despair that was clouding all of them. 

Batman didn’t come to the funeral. She explained to the others that he was working to push past his grief. GL and Flash didn’t understand, but Shay did, she could see it in her fellow warrior’s expression. When she looked at J’onn, she saw that he knew the truth that she’d just learned, and read the heart-break echoed in his alien eyes. She and the Martian embraced silently. 

The wake was a strange custom, but she embraced it. It steamed incomplete with just the five of them, but somehow she couldn’t imagine Batman participating. Bruce Wayne, yes, but not Batman. How different were they, those aspects of the man? She thought she’d been reading him right, that he’d been attracted to her, but with this new revelation… well she doubted now. She still had a lot to learn of Man’s World. 

*****

Any soldier will tell you that morale is of the utmost importance in battle. When you feel like your heart has been ripped out and stomped on, it’s hard to fight your best. It wasn’t so much that the Justice League couldn’t deal with the various villains attacking Metropolis, it was just that they were too demoralized to do so. Having Lobo helping just made things worse. They stood crippled by their own failure and pain unaware of the danger around them. Even Batman’s awareness was overridden by his doubt. 

*****

Clark stumbled slightly as he emerged from the time portal, distortion slowing this end of the portal. He saw the missile inching towards Batman’s head, his friend unaware of it – or ignoring it – and reached out his own arm in slow motion to catch it. He crushed the missile, reveling in the returned strength of his hands, the imperviousness of his skin as it exploded. God he had missed this. 

He basked in the smiles of his friends as they gathered around, their incredulous expressions turning into delight and confusion as he explained what had happened. All except Batman, who kept his distance, body taught, arms defensively crossed across his chest. Diana tried to explain, but Clark knew she was wrong. No, not wrong, exactly… His eyes flicked back to Bruce as he explained that he never thought that Superman was dead. The way he was holding himself was all wrong, like he was retraining himself from moving. It was completely at odds with his casual, if slightly annoyed, tone. 

He made eye contact with Bruce, taking half a step towards the Bat. “I guess that’s a compliment.” Bruce gave him a patented Bat-glare and looked away. Clark frowned, getting the message, and turned his attention to Lobo. Getting rid of the bounty hunter was the next step in getting things back to normal. 

****

Rooftops in Gotham were always dirty. Even after three days of rain, and the steady drizzle that had been falling all day, the decades of grime that permeated the tiles, shingles, or composite couldn’t be shifted. It didn’t show on black, of course, but grit was swept up onto the hem of his cape. Crouched on the edge of a five story building, watching the street below, ignoring the rain, it was business as usual. Until…

“What are you doing here?” He intended that to come out icy, but unaccountably, his voice cracked. He refused to look behind him. Bright colors didn’t belong here.

“I came to see if you were alright.” Clark’s voice was concerned, coming closer across the roof. 

“I’m fine,” Batman spat. 

“You didn’t seem fine the other day.” 

“Why wouldn’t I be fine? You miraculously returned from the dead. Everybody’s happy. Yay.” His gaze remained resolutely on the street below as Superman crouched down bedside him. 

“I’m getting some sarcasm here.” 

“Truly, you are the world’s greatest detective.” 

“Why are you mad at me?” Clark asked plaintively. 

Batman closed his eyes, rubbing his brows with one hand. “I’m not.” 

“You are.” 

“Leave me alone.” 

“Please

“Go away.”

“Why are you being like this?”

“Get out of my city.” 

“Please just tell me what’s wrong so I can help,” Superman reached out a tentative hand. 

Batman sprang to his feet. “I said leave me alone,” he growled, pacing away. 

“Bruce, please!” 

Batman spun in a swirl of black cloth, invoking the demons that the cowards of the street attributed to him. He stalked back to Superman, who now stood, hand out to his friend. 

“Do you want to know what’s wrong?” he hissed.

“Yes,” the man of steel replied with a pleading gaze.

“I spent days looking for you. Everyone else mourned. I searched.” 

Clark nodded. “Diana told me.” 

Batman waved an arm, this was irrelevant. “But even if you were alive, I would never see you again. Never.” The word was poison in his mouth. “Then you were back, and all I wanted…” he looked down, shaking his head, hands clenched into fists. “I…” 

“Bruce…” Clark’s voice was heartbroken. 

Batman covered the distance between them in two paces grabbing the edges of Superman’s cape, drawing them together, growling in Superman's face. “I wanted to push you up against the wall and kiss you senseless. Fly home and fuck you unconscious and then do it all again.” He shook the unresisting Kryptonian. “But I can’t do any of those things.” He let go with a push and Clark took a stumbling step back. 

Batman stood silently, looking away, the rain streaming over him.

“I missed you so much, Bruce.”

“Do you think that helps?”

“I can’t make this better, can I.” It was a statement, not a question.

“No.”

“I… I’m sorry.” 

The Bat was silent. 

“I’ll… stay away as much as I can.” 

“Good.”

Superman flinched. “I… I’ll see you at the meeting on Thursday.” 

Batman crouched on the edge of the roof again, ignoring Superman launching himself into the sky over Gotham. 

 

******

Diana sat uncomfortably sipping her mocha during the next meeting as Batman and Superman icily ignored one another. She couldn’t wait for the meeting to end, the tension was turning her chocolate and coffee into vinegar in her stomach which crawled up her throat. Shay and GL were bickering happily as Flash poked at them, seemingly oblivious, but J’onn looked a paler shade of green than usual and barely said a word. Finally the meeting broke up, Batman stalking off in one direction as Superman flew off in another. Shayera, Green Lantern, and the Flash headed towards the commissary. Diana dropped her head onto the stack of notes in front of her with an audible thump and J’onn’s shoulders visibly relaxed. 

“What in Hades is going on with those two?” she asked, her voice slightly muffled by her hair. 

“I do not understand it,” J’onn replied. “But there is much about human – and Kryptonian – behavior that I do not comprehend.” 

Diana lifted her head and looked at the Martian. “I pray to Aphrodite that they figure things out, because it is driving me mad.” 

J’onn nodded, rubbing his face. “There has always been this tension between them, but it is so much worse now.” He shook his head sadly. “Hopefully time will dull it again if they cannot resolve these issues themselves.” 

“I hope so.” Diana sighed deeply and drained the last of her coffee drink. “I do hope so.”


End file.
